After deputies voted “no” to the Penal Code in the session on 16 December, those in favor have maneuvered and have reintroduced the bill. The bill with changes was sent to a 24-hour special committee that is scheduled to render its report on 5 January. The plan is for the bill with the amendments to pass in the Chamber of Deputies and then move to the Senate for approval. As reported, negotiations have already been carried out with the senators for the passing.
Alianza Pais deputy Jose Horacio Rodríguez resigned from being part of the special committee to fast-track the new amended bill. In a tweet, he says presenting the new Penal Code version sets a damaging precedent in the Chamber of Deputies.
“To postpone indefinitely the current draft to pass a new version just deposited, within 24 hours, constitutes a deplorable legislative tactic and a dangerous precedent,” tweeted Rodríguez.
He is convinced that due to the number of articles and the transcendence, “it is impossible and derisory to pretend to study and build consensus for a new version of the bill in just 24 hours as was granted to the committee.”
Rodríguez says it is the Plenary of the Chamber of Deputies that, under the terms established in the Constitution of the Republic and in the Chamber of Deputies procedure rules, needs to approve or reject the bill.
Rodriguez was part of the Justice Committee of the Chamber of Deputies and the bicameral committee that studied the bill that was rejected on the floor of the Chamber of Deputies.
The new bill was introduced by the president of the Chamber of Deputies Alfredo Pacheco (PRM-National District), Ramon Rogelio Genao Durán (PRSC-La Vega), Dario Zapata Estévez (PRM-Dajabón) and Máximo Castro Silverio (PRSC-Santiago).
Meanwhile, 40 of the 178 deputies reported sick for the session.
Muckracking journalist Altagracia Salazar called the motion of the new bill an example of legislative hustling.
Read more in Spanish:
N Digital
El Caribe
Hoy
El Dia
El Dia
El Nuevo Diario
Altagracia Salazar Sin Maquillaje
Diario Libre
5 January 2022